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D. W. R. Ridgway

Acquarossa, a plateau 6 km. (3 ½ mi.) north of Viterbo, is the site of a small and anonymous *Etruscan centre in the territory of *Caere. Excavation (1966–78) of its component ...
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Acquarossa, a plateau 6 km. (3 ½ mi.) north of Viterbo, is the site of a small and anonymous *Etruscan centre in the territory of *Caere. Excavation (1966–78) of its component areas—including the monumental complex in zone F, variously defined as a ‘palace’, a ‘regia’, or a ‘sacred area’ (with a temple)—has combined with contemporary work at *Poggio Civitate to focus attention on early Etruscan building techniques, domestic and public architecture, town planning, and non-funerary religious practice. Like Poggio Civitate, Acquarossa has yielded copious architectural *terracottas. The most important category, previously unknown or unrecognized, is that of the *orientalizing cut-out acroteria used on two-slope roofs between c.650/600 and c.575. They have no Greek models or counterparts, and clearly follow schemes derived from the strong indigenous tradition of exuberantly decorated roof-tops documented by the impasto hut-urns used as cinerary receptacles (but representing real huts) in Etruria and Latium between the 10th and 8th centuries.

Adamklissi, the site of three Roman monuments in the Dobrudja plain (South Romania): (1) an altar (16.2 m. (53 ft.) square and c.6 m. (20 ft.) high) recording legionary and auxiliary casualties, probably from *Trajan's first Dacian campaign (ce 101/2) rather than that of *Domitian; (2) a circular mausoleum or tropaeum (c.40 m. (131 ft.) diam.) standing on the crest of the hill, built of the same local stone as the altar, and perhaps also linked with Trajan's first Dacian war (ce 101/2); (3) a circular tropaeum (c.30 m. (100 ft.) diam.) in the better-quality Deleni stone dedicated in ce 108/9 (CIL 3. 12467; cf. E. Doruţiu-Boilă, Dacia (1961), 345 ff.) surmounted by a hexagonal column and victory tropaeum, dominating the hill and visible from the Danube more than 40 km. (25 mi.) away. See trophies.Less

H. Kathryn Lomas

Aecae, *Daunian city 25 km. (15 ½ mi.) south-west of Foggia. A Roman ally, it defected to Hannibal in 216 bce but was recaptured. Colonies were founded under Augustus and Septimius Severus, and it ...
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Aecae, *Daunian city 25 km. (15 ½ mi.) south-west of Foggia. A Roman ally, it defected to Hannibal in 216 bce but was recaptured. Colonies were founded under Augustus and Septimius Severus, and it became a stage on the *via Traiana. Aerial photography shows a large area of *centuriation nearby.Less

Antony Spawforth

Aedepsus (mod. Loutra Aidepsou), Euboean coastal town dependent on *Histiaea, famous in antiquity for its hot springs, known to Aristotle (Mete. 2. 366a) and still in use. It prospered in ...
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Aedepsus (mod. Loutra Aidepsou), Euboean coastal town dependent on *Histiaea, famous in antiquity for its hot springs, known to Aristotle (Mete. 2. 366a) and still in use. It prospered in imperial times as a playground for the wealthy, equipped with luxurious swimming-pools and dining-rooms (Plut. Mor.

Graham Burton

Aerarium, derived from aes, denotes ‘treasury’. The main aerarium of Rome was the aerarium Saturni, so called from the temple below the Capitol, in which it was placed. Here were kept state ...
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Aerarium, derived from aes, denotes ‘treasury’. The main aerarium of Rome was the aerarium Saturni, so called from the temple below the Capitol, in which it was placed. Here were kept state documents, both financial and non-financial (including leges (see lex (1)) and *senatus consulta which were not valid until lodged there), and the state treasure, originally mainly of bronze (aes) but including also ingots of gold and silver and other valuables. The *tabularium (1) was built near it in 78 bce.The aerarium was controlled by the quaestors under the supervision of the senate, with a subordinate staff of scribae, *viatores, etc. The *tribuni aerarii, men of a property-class a little below the knights, were probably concerned with making payments from the tribes into the treasury. The aerarium sanctius was a special reserve, fed by the 5 per cent tax on emancipations. Treasure was withdrawn from it in 209 bce and on other occasions.Less

Stephen Mitchell

Was the most important city of northern *Phrygia in Roman times. The well-preserved ruins of the site are dominated by the peripteral (colonnaded) Ionic temple of *Zeus, dedicated under Domitian in ...
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Was the most important city of northern *Phrygia in Roman times. The well-preserved ruins of the site are dominated by the peripteral (colonnaded) Ionic temple of *Zeus, dedicated under Domitian in ce 92. According to local legend Zeus was born in the Steunos cave which overlooked the river Pencalas near the city (the site has been identified and excavated). There were extensive sacred lands around the city, which were used to settle military colonists from the Attalid and Bithynian kingdoms. A long dispute over the revenues from this land was settled by Roman proconsuls of Asia in the 120s, and this appears to have unleashed a period of great prosperity in the 2nd cent. ce. During this time Aezani was transformed from a modest agricultural town (there are traces of late Hellenistic buildings and it may have been the minting centre for the people of Phrygia Epictetus) into an imperial architectural show-piece, with a theatre, a stadium, a large bath-house, several bridges across the river Pencalas which flowed through the city, and cemeteries full of elaborately decorated tombs. Aezani was an enthusiastic member of the *Panhellenion at Athens, where its best-known citizen and civic benefactor, M.Less

William Nassau Weech, Brian Herbert Warmington, and R. J. A. Wilson

The *Punic Wars made Rome heir to the Carthaginian empire. In 146 bce she left most territory in the hands of *Masinissa's descendants, but formed a new province (Africa) in the most fertile part. ...
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The *Punic Wars made Rome heir to the Carthaginian empire. In 146 bce she left most territory in the hands of *Masinissa's descendants, but formed a new province (Africa) in the most fertile part. This covered about 13,000 sq. km. (5,000 sq. mi.) of north and central Tunisia, north-east of a boundary line (the fossa regia, ‘the royal ditch’) from Thabraca to *Hadrumetum; it was governed by a praetor from Utica. Except for *Utica and six other towns of Phoenician origin which had supported Rome rather than Carthage in the Punic Wars, most of the land became *ager publicus. Although the attempt by Gaius C. *Sempronius Gracchus to found a colonia at Carthage failed, Roman and Italian traders and farmers settled in the province in large numbers, and many of C. *Marius (1)'s veterans settled west of the fossa regia. After the battle of Thapsus in 46 bce*Caesar added to the existing province (thenceforth called Africa Vetus, ‘Old Africa’) the Numidian territory of Juba I (Africa Nova, ‘New Africa’).Less

Dominic W. Rathbone

By modern standards Roman agriculture was technically simple, average yields were low, transport was difficult and costly, and storage was inefficient. This limited urbanization (and hence ...
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By modern standards Roman agriculture was technically simple, average yields were low, transport was difficult and costly, and storage was inefficient. This limited urbanization (and hence ‘industrialization’) obliged the bulk of the population to live and work on the land. Nevertheless, in the late republic and earlier Principate agriculture and urbanization (see urbanism (Roman)) developed together to levels probably not again matched until the late 18th cent. Roman agriculture broadly fits the ahistoric pattern which is commonly seen as characteristic of the Mediterranean region: based on the triad of *cereals, vines (see wine) and *olives, at the mercy of a semi-arid *climate with low and unreliable rainfall, and dominated by small farms practising a polyculture aimed principally at self-sufficiency and safety. But two factors—the geophysical diversity of Italy (let alone of Rome's provinces), and the effects of political and social developments—led to historically important variations between areas and across time in the organization and practice of agriculture. Since the 1950s there has been an enormous growth in archaeological research—surface survey of rural areas, excavations of farmsteads, study of the ancient environment (through pollen, seeds, bones)—which is taking our knowledge and understanding of Roman agriculture far beyond what could be discovered from the evidence of the literary sources.

T. W. Potter

Alba Fucens, a Latin colony of 6,000 (see ius latii) founded by Rome in 303 bce, on a hill above the Fucine lake (see fucinus lacus) in central Italy. It was connected to Rome by the *via ...
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Alba Fucens, a Latin colony of 6,000 (see ius latii) founded by Rome in 303 bce, on a hill above the Fucine lake (see fucinus lacus) in central Italy. It was connected to Rome by the *via Valeria, a route of great antiquity. Alba usually supported the Roman government, e.g. against *Hannibal, the socii (90 bce; see social war (3)), *Caesar, and M. *Antonius (2) (Mark Antony). In the 2nd cent. bce, dethroned kings such as *Syphax were confined here. The walls, which extend for nearly 3 km. (1 ¾ mi.), originated in the 3rd cent. bce, and the town saw substantial replanning in the 1st cent. bce. Extensive excavations have revealed the forum, basilica, shops, temples, theatres, amphitheatre, etc. Decline began in the 3rd cent. ce, and the place is not mentioned after 537 when Justinian's troops were stationed here.